Nursing homes have long been aware of how they stack up to other facilities in terms of clinical quality. Now, with Nursing Home Compare, the public is aware, too. Heres how HIM professionals play a part in getting these data right. Two years ago, if I had told our CQI team I wante....

Reporting diagnoses consistently can be a challenge in nursing homes. Analysis of the MDS by AHIMA suggests future improvements, but there are also ways to improve reporting today. Consider the following scenario: a patient in a long-term care facility has many diagnoses, including one fo....

HIM professionals who work in long term care settings are well acquainted with the Minimum Data Set 2.0 (MDS). Since 1990, it has been part of the standardized assessments that nursing homes participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs must complete. Starting this summer, updated submis....

It's time to take a look at HCFA's published proposed rules for a new prospective payment system (PPS) for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs).1,2 This new payment system applies to both rehabilitation hospitals and hospital-based rehab units for cost report periods beginning o....

On March 10, 1997, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) published a proposal that would require the use of the Outcome Assessment Information Set (OASIS) in its revision to the Medicare home health Conditions of Participation. The proposal is designed so that home care quality moni....

HIM professionals in post-acute care are reinventing their roles to accommodate the new coding demands of a prospective payment system. Here are some of the developments that are creating new interest in coding issues for post-acute settings. Three major forces -- the prospective payment....